Jack
“Okay Jack, executive meeting,” Chance declares, offering me a cup of coffee.
I watch the muscle in his cheek jump a few times as he grinds his teeth together, intense and touchy. It’s still really early. Maybe not even six a.m.
“Fire away,” I suggest as I take the coffee.
He glares at me meaningfully, but I don’t want to be the first one to talk about this. I know what I think already. Now I want to know what he thinks.
“We have to talk about this.”
I shrug. “So, talk.”
He begins pacing back and forth, long strides that cover the great room in just four or five steps. He must be pretty worked up. But he’s not sending us off course. I’m not going to let that happen.
“This is crazy, right?” are the first words out of his mouth.
But now he is muttering to himself, continuing the conversation without me. Crazy? I don’t know. It didn’t feel crazy to me, and I bet it didn’t feel crazy to him either.
It felt amazing.
He knows it, and I just have to wait for him to settle down a bit on his own terms.
“Right?” he insists, stopping abruptly in front of me.
I bury my response in my coffee cup. Good thing too, because he starts pacing again before I have to say anything.
“Jesus, that just blew me away!” I hear him muttering, his hands flexing at his sides. “Just totally… Right out of left field, right? Total bombshell!”
Wow, he’s up to three metaphors in a row. This must be serious.
“I mean she just… she came right at me! Didn’t even give me a chance to think about it! One minute we were talking about which movie to watch, and the next she had her… I mean…”
He stops again, taking a deep breath and tipping his head back to stare at the ceiling. That little vein on his temple throbs rhythmically.
“But Jesus, fuck! I mean… That was good! So good! Right?”
There it is. I knew he would come around.
He rushes over to the granite countertop, leaning toward me confidentially. I can feel what he’s feeling: surprise, shock, excitement. And the pulsing need to not have that be the only time.
“Jack, say something,” he insists. “That was amazing?”
“Well, it blew my mind,” I agree carefully. I don’t want to send him into a tailspin by being too enthusiastic.
He slaps the granite with the palm of his hand, sending a tremor shooting through the walnut cabinets below.
“Yes! Mind-blowing!” he agrees, barely keeping his voice below a bellow. At this time of morning, the kids could wake up at any moment.
“Those… lips!” he continues, obviously reliving it mentally. “Her skin is so fucking soft! She’s just so fucking juicy! Am I crazy? Is this just the worst!?”
He looks at me for an answer and I just shake my head.
“Jesus, Jack,” he huffs. “Like, I don’t even know what to do. What are we supposed to do?”
I take a deep breath, sizing him up. Is he stable? I think so. He’s clearly churning quite a bit, but fundamentally stable. Obviously he had the same earth-shattering experience I did. And if I know anything, it’s that he is not going to want to let that go either. No way.
“I think we should offer her that job,” I suggest softly.